Resource World Magazine

46 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 2 0 Standard Lithium builds Arkansas lithium pilot plant by Jennifer S. Getsinger, PhD, PGeo STANDARD LITHIUM LTD. [SLL-TSXV] is a Vancouver company with its main lithium brine project in Arkansas, USA. They have rights to proprietary chemical processes and a deal with an indus- trial company called Lanxess to extract lithium from brines in the Jurassic carbonate Smackover Formation, which stretches across the Mississippi Embayment to the Florida panhandle. Smackover Formation brines, originally a byproduct of oil wells and consid- ered of little value to the oil industry, have been host to bromine extraction for decades. It's always so satisfying when you can upcycle something you thought was waste into a useful and profitable product, and a double treat when it can be reused again, like discovering that tailings from a spent silver mine can be mined for gold. Or in this case, that the "tail-brines" of the oil extraction process can then be used for bromine, and when the bromine is taken out, they can be recycled yet again to extract lithium! When Robert Mintak joined Standard Lithium as the new CEO in 2017, they were transforming from a languishing resource company with fossil fuel assets that had dried up and stopped producing, to a forward-looking group with a vision for the future in alternative energy. Formerly named Patriot Petroleum Company, which had mod- est income from oil and gas in Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alberta, began looking into the emerging lithium market, acquiring inter- ests in some faraway places and some nearer such as the Bristol Lake brine project in Southern California. Known for his innovative ideas and expertise in the resource industry, Mintak soon had Standard Lithium cooperating with one of the largest extractors of bromine brines in southern Arkansas – Lanxess. What with the upsurge in electric cars and electric storage bat- teries, lithium is a hot commodity, and rather than go to far-off places like Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni to get it, wouldn't it be better to produce it right here in Tesla's back yard? The most recent big news is the announcement that Standard Lithium now has in place their new "direct lithium extraction demonstration plant" building at the Lanxess south plant facil- ity in El Dorado, Union County, southern Arkansas. This small town was known as the original boom town of the oil business in Arkansas starting in 1921 when one of the first oil wells was drilled in that area. It was an important chemical manufacturing location during WWII, and is still where bromine is produced from brine. Standard Lithium's deal with Lanxess includes a huge property underlain by the Smackover Formation from which the brines are derived; some 150,000 acres. The brines themselves are associated with an aquifer in the Reynolds Member (a permeable oolitic car- bonate), and are extracted from wells going down to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) depth. Because of the historical oil industry in the area, the brine has been analyzed over the years and found to contain lithium in encouraging quantities. For instance, in a set of some 157 samples, analyses ranged from 32 to 588 mg/L lithium with an average of 240 mg/L Li. The treatment process at the new plant will produce fairly pure lithium chloride, which can then be con- verted to lithium carbonate and other useful compounds. A technical report dated 2019-02-28 suggests that the total lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) for the main resource in the Tetra lithium brine is at 802,000 tonnes (884,000 tons) LCE (inferred resource). The pilot plant is designed to process tail- brine flow of 50 gallons/minute (gpm; or 11.4 cubic metres/hour) from the Lanxess south plant, the equivalent of 100-150 tonnes/ year of lithium carbonate (according to Standard Lithium's recent press release, dated 2019-12-02). This technology is known as "disruptive" in a positive way, because it is different and considered better than older ways of doing things. Features of this process include faster recovery time from not usually accessible brine resources, increased efficiency of recovery, much smaller environmental footprint than evapora- tion ponds, returning most of the water back into the aquifer, and not being affected by weather (it doesn't have to be in a place with hot, dry climate). Standard Lithium hopes to demonstrate the commercial viabil- ity of getting battery-grade lithium chloride directly from brines as a byproduct of the industry that is already operating in south- ern Arkansas. In addition to the Lanxess property, the company is exploring resources in 30,000 acres of other areas in Arkansas, as well as 45,000 acres at its Bristol Lake brine project in the Mojave Desert, California. n MINING Standard Lithium's Arkansas pilot plant. Source: Standard Lithium Ltd.

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